


Fragment (Do you realize how important you are?)

by AmbroseRivers



Series: The Things You've Said. [11]
Category: Sander Sides, Thomas Sanders, Video Blogging RPF
Genre: (I mean it guess it would be Hurt/Comfort?), Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Self-Doubt, could be read as a romantic or platonic Roman/Patton
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-08
Updated: 2018-02-08
Packaged: 2019-03-15 09:48:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,975
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13610796
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AmbroseRivers/pseuds/AmbroseRivers
Summary: Things You Said When You Were Crying.OR: Patton knows Roman is hurting.





	Fragment (Do you realize how important you are?)

**Author's Note:**

> Please heed the tags. As always I will repeat them here, just in case:  
> These are your WARNINGS: Self-doubt, negativity, and manipulation by Deceit.

This wasn’t an uncommon occurrence for him.

He stood outside the door, fingertips pattering against the sides of the bowl cupped in his hands, as he hopped from one foot to another.

It never got any easier...especially when the situation was...not the best, to put it lightly.

Patton was the one who tried to make sure the others were taken care of to the best of his ability.

Most of the time…His childish, somewhat naïve tendencies helped to smooth out the others’ ruffled feathers and allowed them to laugh- but he knew that his usual approach wouldn’t cut it this time.

He hadn’t heard Thomas’ call and that had given Deceit the opportunity he had been waiting for.

The gleeful, mischievous troublemaker had used his form to wreak havoc.  

It was an imperfect copy, of course, because the embodiment of self-preservation, the basic instinct to take care of you and your own, could never truly mimic the intuitive impulsivity that Thomas relied heavily upon when dealing with others.

Deceit couldn’t truly step into his role because Morality- Patton- didn’t handle just the dilemmas of the conscience but also the realms of emotion.

Of happiness. Of anger. Of sadness.

Of love.

It didn’t _matter_ in the _slightest_ that there had been hints and glimpses of the puppeteer at work...Deceit had done his job and all the sides, those that _he_ loved, were shaken up, hurting, or fearful.

Patton wanted to help… no, he _needed_ to help.

He took a deep breath and shifted the bowl to rest against the cat cardigan he had draped across his arm to protect his skin and opened the door.

_Princey is really hurting._

The normally bright and lively room was dim. The grand red curtains were drawn and the woven stars Princey had taken a liking to were scattered along the carpet but that wasn’t what alarmed Patton the most.

_Oh no…why would he…?_

What alarmed Patton was the abandoned red sash flung carelessly on the floor where anyone could trample it and the emblem with jagged edges lying beside it. He crouched to pick it up with gentle fingers and a crushing weight in his chest.

“Hey, kiddo,” Patton straightened, making his way to where a lump hid beneath the satin comforter. He deposited the torn emblem beside him with care. “You haven’t been out of your room in a couple of days so I brought you some soup.”

He pretended not to notice the way Roman stilled at the sound of his voice or the sharp exhale the other tried to muffle.

After a few quiet breaths, Roman emerged from his cocoon. His hair was greasy and mussed and Patton took in the pink tint staining the rims of his glassy and puffy eyes.

There were also the tell-tale blotches of rose splattered across his cheeks that they all got when they were upset.

_Or crying._

Patton’s lips trembled as he smiled and offered Roman a spoon full of the soup.

“Open up.”

“I’m not hungry.” Roman mumbled, curling his knees even closer to his stomach. “I just want to sleep. Leave me alone, Pat.”

Patton shook his head stubbornly and offered Princey the spoon once more, jabbing it against his pursed lips. “You need to eat—” 

Roman glared at him but it was a mockery of his usual irate scoff, irises dull and flat. His fingers came to encircle Patton’s wrist with a tighter force than needed and Patton froze when the hairs along the back of his neck started to raise, warning bells chiming lowly in the back of his mind.

“Roman?” Patton questioned, letting go of the utensil in his grasp, as Roman pinned him with an almost desperate stare.

“How do I know that it’s you?”

Patton brought his free hand to press against Roman’s lightly and he could feel the jumping digits under his own. The walls of his heart clenched tightly, agonizingly, and the force stole his breath away.

“It’s me, Ro.” Patton reassured him numbly, tongue clumsy from the lack of oxygen in his lungs and his steadily increasing worry. “It’s really me, kiddo.”

“How would I know?” There was a curtain of water raising to shield Roman’s gaze as his words warbled, rising and falling with his frustration and fear. “I didn’t notice before and…”

_“This is your fault.”_ Deceit’s whisper drifted through his mind and Patton leaned away from Roman to set the bowl on the nightstand.

_This isn’t about me. This is about Roman._

“ _If you had come when they called, it wouldn’t have come to this, would it?”_

“Roman,” Patton shuffled until he was in Roman’s personal space, dominating his line of sight intentionally. He lowered his tone to a soothing, gentle cadence. “What’s this about, love?”

Roman relaxed at the pet name instantly, tugging on Patton insistently. Patton angled his head to the left in confusion, lips twitching upward reflexively, as he let gravity drag him down, allowing Princey's movements to guide him until he was sprawled on the mattress, flat on his back. 

Patton kept his mouth shut as Princey burrowed himself against his side, sniffling.

Sometimes, the best thing to do was to be still and let people open up when they were ready, so Patton merely wiggled until he was more comfortable.

He combed the strands of Princey’s hair back as he softly cried.

“Virgil,” Roman began, attempting to clear his throat of the mucus clinging to its walls. “He…he is really upset with me. Like…really upset, Pat.”

Patton bit his tongue, stifling his knee-jerk reaction to disagree with Princey’s assumption, and mulled over the last couple of days.

After their eventful gathering with Thomas, everyone had holed up in their respective rooms.

Surprisingly, it was Logan who was the first to wander back into the open space they utilized as a living room, and he had drug Patton out of his domain after three days of silence. Virgil had lingered in his sanctuary for a bit longer- but he eventually joined them and he hovered by Patton and Logan, shoulders tensed and raised, when Deceit was in the area.

Virgil hadn’t asked about Roman, or made any snide comments about his disappearance, Patton realized belatedly and the arm slung around Roman’s form squeezed him closer.

“You can’t change how he’s feeling—” Patton rushed to continue when Roman’s lips parted, the familiar spark of exasperation brightening his eyes for a moment. “—but you can apologize and give him time. Don’t force it.”

Roman sighed.

The gust of hot air drifted over Patton’s neck and he suppressed the urge to shiver.

“Yeah, I know.”

He knew that there was more but he let the conversation between them drop as Roman’s fingers twisted the fabric of his polo.

Patton listened to the stuttering, labored breaths of the usually boisterous and energetic side. His own eyes started to burn with salt but he willed the feeling away.

_“You can’t do anything for him.”_

“Do you think…” Roman trailed off as he put some distance between them, slowly dragging himself upward so he could lean against the headboard. “Do you think I might be a dark side?”

_Leave him alone._

Patton’s jaw unhinged slightly so his mouth fell open. Blood rushed through his ears with the speed of his movements and his head spun but Patton ignored it to squeak: “Of course not! What on earth made you think that?!”

_Leave him alone._

_“You’re going to lose him, Morality, and there’s nothing that can be done to stop that, is there?”_

_Leave him alone._

“I…” Roman refused to look at Patton, fingers flexing like talons as they dug into the fabric covering his lap. “I’m not…as great as I think I am, am I? I crave the spotlight so I rush into things…just…” Crystal droplets clung to Roman's chin and Patton witnessed the moment they gave up and fell to their death- flattening against the unyielding surface of his knuckles and the comforter. Patton’s tears made their own escape at the heart wrenching sight, at the whispered words, at Roman’s pain. “I just…I’m so stupid and I make things harder for Thomas…”

“No, no, no.” Patton denied vehemently, jerking his head left and right with so much force that his glasses were knocked askew. “We've gone over this. Thomas listening to _any_ of us too much or too little can make things harder for him.” Patton was distantly aware that he was gesturing wildly, hands flying- up, down, slapping against his palm or his thigh. “Virge, you, me, Lo- it doesn’t matter.”

_“You aren’t forgetting someone, are you?”_

Patton clenched his teeth subtly, grinding the top and bottom rows together. His chest was heaving from the emphatic fervor his words had picked up steadily and adrenaline coursed through his veins, making his heart jump.    

_You help Thomas in small ways but that doesn’t make you right._

_“Right and wrong are meaningless. Logan said so himself.”_

Roman blinked at him owlishly, dark eyelashes fluttering against his skin. The lines around his eyes disappeared as he tilted his head, obviously lost to the thoughts swirling through his mind.

Air whistled through Patton's nose as he tried to steady his erratic breathing but the little oxygen he had worked to claim escaped in a hiss when Princey’s lips quirked into a false half-smile that was marred by the melancholy that still encased him.

“We have talked about this, haven’t we?” Roman murmured, bringing a hand up to smack himself lightly on his temple. “I remember now.” His tone swam with exhaustion and Patton ached because Princey was trying to cover up the fact that _he didn’t believe him._

“Ro…” _Please, Roman, please. You know this. I know you do._

“I’m doing much better now, Pat.” Roman carried on. He kept that weak grin on his face and Patton’s stomach churned at the dazed, faraway, and hazy cloud that blocked Ro's eyes from him, hindering his ability to read his emotions. “…I’ll be down for dinner, okay? I really am tired.”

Patton wanted to refuse, to wrench Roman from the bed like Logan had done for him, but he couldn’t. He tried to speak but his vocal cords remained motionless.

_"Cat got your tongue?"_

Patton scooted closer to Roman, pulling on the sleeve of his white t-shirt in a mirror of Princey's earlier actions. He flopped on his side unceremoniously, not releasing his hold on the article of clothing in his grasp.

_Sleep with me?_

His eyes pleaded when his voice could not and Roman swayed uncertainly before he huffed, pulling the blanket from underneath his rear and throwing it across Patton.

He shimmied down his sheets until he was horizontal, nose nearly brushing against Patton’s own.

“You didn’t ask me to promise,” Roman mused, closing his eyes. “You always make me promise when I say I’m going to do something." He regarded Patton with a jaded and lackluster but curious squint. "Why are you staying, Patty cakes?”

_“You are going to lose him.”_

“Because ohana means family,” Patton recited with a gravelly rasp, not breaking eye contact. “Family means no one gets left behind…or forgotten. You're family, Ro."

Tears started to tiptoe down Roman’s face, leaving behind wet trails as their footprints, as Patton finished his thought and the pads of the prince's fingers dug painful half-moons into his side but Patton didn't protest.

_I am the Heart and he’s apart of it. I’m not going to let him go without a fight._

He rested his chin on Roman's head as his arm draped itself across Roman's hip, resting against the small of his back comfortingly.

_So kindly **back off.**_

Patton hugged Ro as tight as he could manage, humming softly to help him calm down enough to sleep.

**Author's Note:**

> This is (technically) a follow-up to What Can I Say? but it is a separate prompt and I feel like it can stand alone.  
> Cross-posted to my Tumblr: loveinthebones.


End file.
